JOINT PRESS RELEASE Climate Resilient Infrastructure Summit Opens at the AUC Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 27 April 2015: The first Africa Climate Resilient Infrastructure Summit (ACRIS) opened today, 27 April 2015 under the theme “Africa towards resilient Infrastructure Development”. The summit, which is organized by the African Union Commission (AUC) in collaboration with Entico Event Limited, brings together African ministers in charge of energy, transport, infrastructure, agriculture as well as development partners, financial institutions, private sector and national experts, among others. The Summit is aimed at introducing Member States' representatives to practical solutions that tackle the impacts of climate change on infrastructure, agriculture, food security and other key sectors in Africa. Speaking at the opening, Dr. Elham Ibrahim, AUC commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy recognized the urgency of the summit as Africa is at the stage of building its infrastructure at national and regional levels which is geared at achieving a sustainable future for Africa. The commissioner reaffirmed that there are already negative impacts that climate change is having on agriculture, food security and water supply, particularly evidenced by food shortages in Sub-Saharan Africa, which depends primarily on rainfed agriculture. “Currently, Africa stands out as the most vulnerable region to the impacts of climate change despite accounting for less than four percent of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions mainly due to low levels of infrastructure to adequately adapt to changing climatic conditions”, Dr. Elham added. Mr. Jamal Saghir, senior regional advisor to World Bank called for climate change and infrastructure development programmes to be put at the heart of Africa’s development agenda. He therefore emphasized the need to raise awareness to increase dialogue to better draw attention to the issue. Addressing the delegates Mr. Saghir said that the World Bank had launched a global infrastructure facility in 2014 and four billion USD aside for climate change combating measures. He called for the promotion of the blue economy, putting more emphasis on renewable energy development as well as stepping-up technical capacity building to in the Sahara and step up technical capacity to curb the challenges poised by climate change in Africa. Taking the floor, Mr. Paul Desanker, Manager of the Adaptation Programme, United Nations Framework, Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) described the work of the Governors’ Climate and Forests Fund (GCF Fund), which is a non-profit climate finance facility. The GCF Fund works with member states to support initiatives that reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and demonstrates realistic pathways to achieving low emission rural development. Mr. Desanker highlighted that GCF has mobilized ten billion dollars this year and is in the process of identifying projects that require funding in various regions. The projects will help facilitate the integration of climate change resilient programmes into national frameworks, thereby ensuring sustainability in the long-run, according to him. European Investment Bank Loan Officer, Ms. Morag Baird underscored the role played by the bank to achieve sustainable development and poverty reduction around the world. Highlighting the activities of EIB, where nineteen billion euros have been set aside for climate action alone, Ms. Baird stressed that the bank is largely involved in efforts to manage climate change with climate intervention approaches incorporated into EIBs program agenda. The three day summit will end on 29 April 2015. BM/MTS Contact person: Mr. Molalet Tsedeke Directorate of Information and Communication, AU Commission Tel: +251-911-630631; [email protected] Mr. Mohamed Ahmed Events Director; Entico Events Limited Tel: Mob: +44 7876 324 418; [email protected] Learn more at: http://www.au.int http://enticoevents.com